Classic England Garden Tour

Introduction

Time: All Year

Accommodation: First Class Hotels

Start Date: 7 Nights / 8 Days

Group Size: Singles, Couples, Families and Small Groups

Our Classic Gardens tour explores some of the gardens and landscapes that have influenced the design of gardens and landscapes all over the world. This combined with the architectural heritage of the C18th designers and acclaimed plant collectors, nurseries, research centres mean you will cover a perfect cross-section of the English obsession.

Profile

Starting form London this tour passes through some of the best countryside in England such as the Cotswolds, the South Downs and the Welsh Marches, we will also visit some of Britain’s premier cities including Bath, Winchester and Hereford.

Depending on the time of year, we may change the itinerary so you get the best out of the gardens, plants and the gardens. We will aim to visit at least two major gardens a day, interspersed with specialist nurseries and national plant collections. Many of the hotels we have chosen have outstanding gardens.

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Why not create your own tour? As with all our tours the attractions you see will take account of your interests and can be adapted to what you want to see. So, if you want to see places not on the list below, just let us know. Complete our enquiry form to find out more »

Itinerary

Day 1: Walmer - Sissinghurst - Great Dixter

KENT is the Garden of England with many fantastic gardens. WALMER CASTLE GARDEN was once the home of Winston Churchill and the Duke of Wellington. The gardens have an outstanding historical interest including the Queen Mother’s Gardens. Arguably, the best C20th garden is SISSINGHURST CASTLE. Created around the remains of an Elizabethan mansion by Vita Sackville West, it forms a series of enclosed compartments and outstanding design. Finally, GREAT DIXTER to the pioneering garden of Christopher Lloyd, famed for his carpets of wildflowers and exuberant exotic garden.

Day 2: Sheffield Park - Wakehurst - Winchester

SHEFFIELD PARK GARDEN is an outstanding landscape garden which offers different vistas depending on the time of year. Laid out by Humphry Repton and Capability Brown, the 120 acres have many rare specimens. WAKEHURST PLACE is country home of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew. As an internationally significant botanic garden, there are plants from throughout the world, carefully planted in a secluded valley. Included is Kew's Millenniun Seed Bank with 10% of the world's seeds. In the ancient capital of England Winchester, QUEEN ELEANOR'S GARDEN is a lovely recreation of a C13th herbarium.

Day 3: Athelhampton - Abbotsbury - Forde

ATHELHAMPTON a stunning C19th reconstruction of an Elizabethan garden dominated by the world famous topiary, twelve giant pyramids standing over 30 feet high. The Dorset Coast is England’s only natural World Heritage Site and nestling in a sheltered valley is ABBOTSBURY Sub Tropical Garden. The micro climate is perfect for a sublime mix of tropical plants. Finally, to one of England’s oldest inhabited houses, a C12th Monastery, FORDE ABBEY. Famed for the herbaceous borders and the spring Swamp Garden, it is consistently voted one of the country’s top 10 gardens.

Day 4: Eden Project - Lost Gardens of Heligan

The EDEN PROJECT was at started by Tim Smit as a Millennium project. The revolutionary glass biomes have plants from different global climates. It has become one on the best loved attractions in England with over 3 million visitors a year. Tim Smit’s first garden project was the LOST GARDENS OF HELIGAN. Hidden and overgrown since the earliest part of the C20th the gardens offer a fascinating insight into an Edwardian estate with long carriage drives, an exotic kitchen garden and unusual plants. The warm climate of the area allows tropical flora and the main drive displays amazing world famous swamp.

Day 5: RHS Rosemoor - Stourhead

Heading north along the spectacular Cornish coast, our first stop today is the Royal Horticultural Society’s ROSEMOOR. Set deep in the Devon countryside, the garden offers a vast range of plants and extensive herbaceous border. The most popular feature is the extensive rose garden and the recently added sub-tropical plantings. STOURHEAD a superb landscape garden created by Henry Hoare an eminent C18th banker. Arguably, the best landscape garden and set around a huge central lake, the paths moves through magnificent woodland and exotic trees, offering different vistas of the classic temples.

Day 6: Abbey House - Westonbirt - Hampton

ABBEY HOUSE GARDENS is a perfectly blended in the surroundings of a medieval Abbey and immersed in history. The gardens have over 2000 different roses and spectacular displays throughout the year. The National Arboretum at WESTONBIRT is set in over 600 acres of beautifully landscaped countryside. There are over 18,000 trees planted from 1829 including the national collections of Acer and Salix. Finally, HAMPTON COURT GARDENS, a country estate has been carefully restored by the American Van Kampen family. The gardens are an eccentric mix of spectacularly colourful and unusual planting.

Day 7: Powis - Private Gardens - David Austin

The border with WALES has a number of private gardens, each offering a different range of flora. Soon, we will arrive at POWIS CASTLE GARDENS. These world famous gardens are overhung with enormous clipped yews and shelters rare and tender plants. The gardens date back to the C12th Welsh Kings and where further devolved in the Italianate and French styles in the C18th. The castle houses an exhibition on Clive of India. Nearby are the nurseries of the world famous rose growers, DAVID AUSTIN ROSES. There are over 700 cultivars and the breeding greenhouses to view.

Day 8: Hidcote - Rousham - Stowe

Travelling through the beautiful Cotswolds, our first stop is the Arts and Crafts masterpiece of Major Lawrence Johnston, HIDCOTE MANOR GARDEN. The garden is famous for outstanding herbaceous borders and rare trees and shrubs, all developed in a series of outdoor rooms. ROUSHAM PARK was one of the first landscape gardens created by William Kent. He also remodelled the C17th castle . Finally, STOWE, one of the finest Georgian landscape gardens; the gardens have been influential in the development of design throughout the world. There are over 30 temples and monuments.